History, Travel and Wine

Menu

I Get the Ones Darwin Didn’t Want

So Martini got the phone call from the Governor this morning. The reprieve from death row… or in other words, she managed to weasel out of her dental cleaning.

Jon, bless his heart, somehow didn’t put two and two together that me talking about Martini’s dental appointment and taking the cats food away at 8 pm on Thursday night were related events. So, early this morning, while I was still sleeping, he fed them… When I woke up he told me how nice he was to have fed them so they wouldn’t wake me up… Wha?

So I called the vet to tell them she wouldn’t be in (the receptionist had a hearty laugh about it – I think she’s heard this story before) but that I would still bring the other two in with her at the end of the day for their annual checkups. I left work early and went home to suit up so I could kitty-wrangle all 3 into carriers for the occasion.

So we got to the vet and as it turns out, this vet doesn’t think she really needs a cleaning all that badly – Oscar needs one within the next reasonable while (6 months to a year), and his teeth are worse than Martini’s. Oliver, my big guy, somehow seems to skate out without ever needing his teeth cleaned – apparently he has lovely saliva PH. We can’t all be blessed… Oliver has other deficits, like not being the sharpest tool in the shed, so to speak. But I digress.

Now, because, I can’t ever have an animal who doesn’t have some costly physical ailment, the vet is concerned about Martini’s slight stature (apparently skinny isn’t the new skinny for this vet) and her poor hair coat. We’ve dealt with the poor hair coat for years, and I thought it was related to the food allergy, but he thinks she’s got a different issue (I would say a bigger issue, but her food allergy is really severe). Hyperthyroid… Perhaps a kidney issue, or liver issue, but he is putting his money on the thyroid.

After a pricey blood panel, we’ll find out tomorrow if we are looking at twice daily pills for the near future, and the option of radioactive iodine thyroid therapy further out. The radioactive poop was a charming idea!

So, back to Darwin… Seems I never pick the animals who are the ‘survival of the fittest’ types. They must somehow know I’m a sucker for the ones who need me. That’s it! I’m the Ellis Island of animal medical cases! “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” And with Martini snuggled on my lap as I write this, I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Update: Martini’s blood and urine workup came back negative for thyroid issues! YAY! There was some concentrated blood in her urine however. The vet thinks that it is a kidney infection, but that her kidneys are still functioning well (apparently if they were not functioning well the blood would not be as concentrated). So two weeks of Amoxicillin and hopefully she’ll be back to full kitty health! Or at least elderly kitty with a severe food allergy health. I’ll take what I can get. And since the vet clinic was already closed by the time they were able to call back with the lab results, they hung the bottle of antibiotics on the door so I could swing by and grab them and not have to wait until Monday. You don’t get service like that anymore!